Best Trading Practices: Things You Do That You Wish Everyone Did

[gfel2795]

RE: Collectors being lazy.

It's funny because I am the laziest in real life...my wife would back that up, but when it comes to my hobby of hockey cards I would be willing to do anything and everything in order to get a trade made if I think it will help my PC. I am also messy and disorganized at home and in the workplace, but my cards are organized, inventoried, you name it by type, year, make, model, numerically in binders, boxes.

That's what makes me remember that it's special, it's a 180.

[Crosby 87]

I'd like to hear what people do to ensure that their trading partners are well taken care of.

For example:
A) Answering PMs before posting/bumping threads. I always get back to any PMs even if I am not interested in trading out of respect. I do this bc I don't like when other traders bump threads after ignoring PMs I have sent.

.

I dont always follow this one and it's mainly cause of one reason...Im on my phone . Im not for one typing out long responses on a phone so ill just save that message until im at computer next. Typing "bump" is simple n quick on a phone.

[xpucksx]

Laziness, laziness, and once again, laziness.

Let's say I have a thread that says "I collect Steve Bernier cards" (I don't know why such a thread would exist, but follow me) and half the replies end up saying simply "CMB". No. I will not check anything, because you're too lazy to a) Tell me if you even have anything I want and b) Formulate three words that combine to a total of 13 letters.

Other times I see a thread saying "Show me all your Crosby cards FT!" and the thread gets 20 replies. The majority of people don't even get a reply as the person repeatedly posts "bump", and when questioned, the OP says "srry nt intrsted", because those words are far too long to get the full treatment.


You know what I choose to do? If I see that a person collects player x, prior to sending them a message I search through what I have and present them with a list of cards of that player. Sure, they may not need a single one, but it shows effort. Other times I say that I've taken a look and that there isn't anything I have of that particular player, but if the collector has other interests I will take a look for them.

Sadly, for a lot of people, I go to these lengths to help them with their collections and I get the "srry nt intrsted" reply. As I posted in a recent thread, I have dropped my trading significantly because of a number of issues. And it is a shame because there are a ton of great traders out there who don't do any of the things I listed above and are truly class individuals. But rather than check the trading boards once a day like i used to, I'm surprised if i check them once every two weeks now.

While I'm not pointing the finger directly at anybody, I will say that some people are ruining the hobby. You know who you are.

Fellow Rush fan here...

I agree with this point as well as not liking the "check my bucket" types as well. I have had numerous people PM me with some trade offers, and I am trying to ge things like this in order to give them a solid response. It takes a bit of time, and I hope they are patient, but I want the trader to know that I am interested in it being the easiest and most honest trade possible.

I have been wondering whether I should do my own "Bucket" - which seems like it would take a lot of time...and I don't even like to bucket search my self. I would rather the party interested send me the scanned images that we are focusing on...that's what I would do

[Goose97]

The one thing I hate and have this happen far to often is if I post a buying thread and somebody shows a card I could use I ask them directly for a price only for them to respond "make me an offer". Seriously if I ask you directly for a price don't come back with the make an offer, I don't play games and run around in circles I just want a friggin price on YOUR card.

The CMB people some I can tolerate some not so much. If they have their bucket in order with clean pics (not 9 card group scans), titles, and sorted in some way I have no problem going through your bucket but if your bucket is nothing but 9 card group scans with no titles and you have to click each picture to see what they have then I'm not even going to humor the bucket, same with people with the blurry cell phone pics that you can barely tell which team the guy on the card is from let alone who he actually is lol.

The taped top loaders I can live with, I'm trading for the card not the top loader so I can't really complain about some tape. Not to mention a little goo-gone and a washcloth will take care of the residue left behind.

My biggest turn off when looking at buckets! If they don't have descriptions to what it is, especially if I'm scouring for bait because they don't have anything of my actual wants for something I have they need.

Plus the dreaded sideways scan...... Can we just straighten up people?

[UltimateHockeyFan]

For me its people who don't respond to PM's. I completely understand if you're busy, but im talking about when a PM has been read and no reply is sent. I like that there's a tracker now so you can see if the PM was read or not. If you don't want to make a trade/sale with me that's fine, but at least let the person know instead of keeping them hanging.

[RGM81]

Negotiation is a lost art. When my traders supply is low (usually is) I realize that I may not necessarily have exactly what you want to get out of your card or that we may have a few bucks in value to even out for a deal that makes everybody happy. But too many people are quick on the "sorry I'll pass" trigger. I know that we all only have limited time for our hobby but spend an extra few minutes working with someone and you may end up making a friend and setting up a deal or two in the future.

Determining value is pretty easy, and I'm happy to work with people that want to do BV/SV/whatever trading. I don't have any rigid adherence to any system. But please don't take it personally if you want a $40BV card that sells over book and I say no to a $40BV card that hasn't sold that high in two years. Ties in to what I said about negotiation. I'll continue to talk trade in the circumstance described above, and I'll lay out why I feel as I do about that deal not being overly fair, and propose alternatives.

Trade bait. If I'm trading a card, it is tradebait. That usually means I'd like to get something I actually want in return rather than different tradebait. Especially if I'm trading out something fairly scarce or even a semi-PC item. I like to help people out with their collections where possible, but if you've got a lot cards in there the calibre of 07-08 Patrick Elias Artifacts GU's, it's very difficult for me to want to send out my newer tradebait for that. We've all got cards in our inventory that have sat their for years, and most of us probably don't want to add more to that little pile.

I don't like checking buckets. Again, time constraints and all that. There are few things that are more annoying than seeing a CMB post in a thread where I've posted up my wants. How many times have we all had to go through that exercise only to find 1 insert or parallel only per player that we collect? Not really worth it for either of us. If I know someone has a card I want, I PM them saying "I like this, here's what I have of ....." and follow that up with "If none of that works for you, please have a look at my Inventory and hopefully we can make something happen." The Inventory system is so much more organized here on SCF than Photobucket - you can literally search any player or team you want and get instant results. Much better than scrolling through 300+ photos in random order.

I hate tape. I try to use as little of it as possible when packaging and shipping cards to people. Indeed, in the ideal trade scenario the only place I'll see any tape is on the envelope. If you want to re-use bubble mailers, go for it - I do - but don't go crazy with the tape so that the thing inside is imprisoned. For the inside of the package: Sleeve, top loader, team bag. These things make tape irrelevant. You don't need to tape the three cards together on all four sides so that they stay together. This pretty much ruins three toploaders because of all the residue.

Jumbo cards have toploaders available too. I don't trade for these cards often. I don't ship them often. Top loaders do exist in 4x6 and 5x7 formats, though. I once got a Carey Price Zenith Dare To Tear that was all dinged up and lightly creased because the guy shipped it inside two very loose pieces of wrapped cardboard. Made my decision to tear very easy. LOL

I don't like scuzzy old toploaders. Look, I know that these things cost money and that we'd all rather use our extra hobby bucks to buy wax or singles than supplies. But it looks so much more professional when people ship using nice, clean toploaders. Is there anything more #firstworldhobbyproblems than getting a dirty old toploader covered in tape and/or residue with a dealer's $10 value written on it? That thing goes straight to the garbage and now I have to use my own supplies to enjoy looking at my card. It's a nice courtesy to your fellow traders to use proper packaging, and it makes you look like a pro.

[Wickabee]

Not all cell phone pics are bad I can live with a little blurry but some peoples are so bad you have to look at it cross eyed before you even realize its a pic of a card. Some of the buckets I've seen you'd think they took a picture with a rock.

I know.
I have a decent smartphone and that's what I use for my pics. This is probably the worst pic I have in my bucket:


I've been meaning to take another.

[Wickabee]

I don't like scuzzy old toploaders. Look, I know that these things cost money and that we'd all rather use our extra hobby bucks to buy wax or singles than supplies. But it looks so much more professional when people ship using nice, clean toploaders. Is there anything more #firstworldhobbyproblems than getting a dirty old toploader covered in tape and/or residue with a dealer's $10 value written on it? That thing goes straight to the garbage and now I have to use my own supplies to enjoy looking at my card. It's a nice courtesy to your fellow traders to use proper packaging, and it makes you look like a pro.

This is where you and I differ. I don't throw that toploader out, it goes into my "trading" toploaders (unless it's absolutely horrid, then it gets thrown out). The way I see it, I'm trading for the cards. The toploader's only job is to get the card to me safely, nothing more. I have brand new toploaders for my PC, and a lot of them go into binders as well. Basically, I don't trade for the toploader.

[JayT_59]

A recent issue has arisen in trading negotiations with another gentleman here on SCF which caused me to wonder how the rest of the community works trades.

When you advertise a card/cards for trade and you receive multiple offers with multiple trade lists how do you manage the incoming offers?:

A. First come first serve and you close off each offer before moving to the next.

Or

B. Manage them like resumes - Gather and evaluate them all at once and pursue the best offers.

Or

C. Some other way

Thanks for the input.

[OPCbreaker43]

B. Do the trade that you would want to do. If it is a trade offer then entertain all offers. If you accept a deal and a better one comes through then you have to honor the first deal. But if you don't agree to a deal you are welcome to entertain other offers.